Position-Coding Pattern Comprised of Tags Containing Contiguous Cells

1. A substrate having a position-coding pattern disposed on a surface thereof, said position-coding pattern comprising: a plurality of target elements defining a target grid, said target grid comprising a plurality of cells, wherein each cell has a target element positioned at each corner thereof and neighboring cells share target elements; a plurality of data elements contained in each cell; and a plurality of tags, each tag being defined by a plurality of contiguous cells, each tag comprising respective location data encoded by a respective set of said data elements.

2. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein said data elements encode data values by pulse position modulation.

3. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein said data elements are macrodots.

4. The substrate of claim 3 , wherein a portion of data is represented by a macrodot occupying one of a plurality of possible positions within a cell, each position representing one of a plurality of possible data values.

5. The substrate of claim 3 , wherein a n-bit portion of data is represented by a macrodot occupying one of 2 n possible positions within a cell, each position representing one of 2 n possible data values, wherein n is an integer.

6. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein each cell defines a symbol group, each symbol group comprising a plurality of Reed-Solomon symbols encoded by a plurality of said data elements.

7. The substrate of claim 6 , wherein each symbol comprises two halves, each half comprising 2 bits of data represented by a macrodot occupying one of 4 possible positions within said half.

8. The substrate of claim 6 , wherein said location data is encoded as a location codeword comprised of a set of said Reed-Solomon symbols.

9. The substrate of claim 8 , wherein each tag comprises a plurality of replications of said location codeword, such that any tag-sized portion of said position-coding pattern is guaranteed to contain said location codeword irrespective of whether a whole tag is contained in said portion.

10. The substrate of claim 9 , wherein each tag is square and comprises four replications of said location codeword, each replication being positioned within a respective quarter of said tag.

11. The substrate of claim 6 , wherein each tag comprises one or more common codewords, each common codeword being comprised of a set of said Reed-Solomon symbols, wherein said one or more common codewords are defined as codewords common to a plurality of contiguous tags.

12. The substrate of claim 11 , wherein each symbol group comprises a fragment of at least one of said one or more common codewords, and contiguous symbol groups are arranged such that any tag-sized portion of said coding pattern is guaranteed to contain said one or more common codewords irrespective of whether a whole tag is contained in said portion.

13. The substrate of claim 11 , wherein said one or more common codewords encode region identity data uniquely identifying a region of said surface.

14. The substrate of claim 13 , wherein said one or more common codewords uniquely identifies said substrate.

15. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein each cell comprises an orientation symbol encoded by at least one data element, said orientation symbol identifying an orientation of said coding pattern with respect to said surface.

16. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein each cell comprises one or more translation symbols encoded by a respective set of said data elements, said translation symbols identifying a translation of said cell relative to a tag containing said cell.

17. The substrate of claim 16 , wherein each cell comprises a pair of orthogonal translation symbols, each orthogonal translation symbol identifying a respective orthogonal translation of said cell relative to a tag containing said cell.

18. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein each tag is square and comprises M 2 contiguous square cells, wherein M is an integer having a value of at least 2.

19. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein said target elements are sufficiently large to be distinguishable from said data elements by a low-pass filter.

20. The substrate of claim 1 , wherein said target elements are target dots and said data elements are macrodots, and wherein each target dot has a diameter of at least twice that of each macrodot.